About one in every 10 babies in Britain is now Muslim, according to an analysis of the latest census figures released here on Friday.
An expert said this high percentage of Muslims among the under-fives, almost twice as high as in the general population, could mean that worshipping Muslims might just outnumber practising Christians over the years.
“It’s not inconceivable,” David Voas, professor of Population Studies at the University of Essex, told ‘The Times’.
He, however, ruled out the prospect of Muslims becoming a majority in Britain.
A breakdown of Britain’s religions and age groups was produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) based on data collected for the 2011 census.
The figures show there were 3.5 million children aged 0-4, of whom 320,000 were Muslim.
That proportion is more than 9 per cent and compares with a total Muslim population among all age groups of less than 5 per cent.
The figure is attributed largely to the high birth rates in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi community in the country.
“It certainly is a startling figure,” said David Coleman, professor of Demography at the University of Oxford.
“We have had substantial immigration of Muslims for a long time. Continuing immigration from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India has been added to by new immigration from African countries and from the Middle East,” Coleman said.
“Birth rates of Muslims of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin remain quite high, although falling. There seem to be very low levels of falling away from religion among Muslims,” he said.
So far, Christians remain the largest religious group among those aged 0-4, at 1.5 million, 43 per cent.
The 2011 census showed a 13 per cent drop in the Christian population of England and Wales.
Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the large number of young Muslim children reflected the confidence that Muslims had in the country.
“It’s not about Britain becoming a Muslim country but about Britain enabling the practice of Islam, which gives confidence to the vast majority of Muslims. It’s a great country to regard as our home,” he said.
“I just wouldn’t want our fellow citizens to be alarmed by an increase in number. This generation is very much British. They feel very much this is their home,” Mogra said.
—-PTI